Gaiscioch Community Notes Issue 8, 2019

Gaiscioch

Cead Mile Failte!

So. How are you surviving this heatwave? I know I'm already looking forward to winter again. Portland has been rather tame this year but looking at the map with the 90s in Alaska and most of the US drenched in the 100+ range I feel pretty darn lucky were only in the low 90s. Regardless, I'm betting most of you are stepping away from those portable heaters we call computers and opting for some quality time in air-conditioned places. 

This next month we've got quite a bit of action arriving on our doorstep so if you brave the cyberland we will definitely have something for you to do.

Directory

Get Involved

Gaiscioch Family News

Gaiscioch Summer 2019 Summit

August 10th at 5 PM PT

Join us for our quarterly look into the community and see what's news on the horizon. Bring some questions as we will have an AMA part of the event. Topics we'll be discussing are Guild Wars 2, Elder Scrolls Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Conqueror's Blade, and we'll be taking a peek at some of the things coming our way this next quarter. 

These events are important to our community as it allows us a chance to get to know each other, voice ideas and concerns, and helps us gain visibility on what is attracting the attention of our player base. We will also be giving away several Gaiscioch Patches during the stream that will be mailed to you. (Yes I know I'm behind on mailing things was waiting on this month's summit to do it all at once.)

Try to be there if you can as the more people we have the better they typically go. We will have it available to watch on YouTube if you're unable to make it. 

Tune in to the stream live at https://twitch.tv/gaiscioch and join us in discord for the AMA session.

The Perfect Storm

Get ready folks. Here comes the storm we've been waiting for! For years we have waited for that next chapter, and the perfect storm has reached our horizon.

We have identified 3 major players that would most likely be suitable candidates. We're going to be seriously looking at the new Lord of the Rings MMO by Amazon Game Studios and Athlon Games (I'm dubbing Middle-Earth Online or ME:O until it gets a real name), Magic the Gathering MMO by Cryptic and our fan-favorite Ashes of Creation by Intrepid Studios.

Now that said there are a few others that meet the general requirements and could potentially become a chapter if interest grew. Right now we're just not seeing enough demand out of them. They are Chronicles of Elyria, Astellia Online, and Ascent: Infinite Realms. All three feature deep a PvE experience as well as PvP.

It still remains a mystery where guild size limitations will end up on any of these so it's still too early to declare but the good news is that there are 6 total likely candidates we are seriously looking at and most of the hit alpha/beta in the next year. Vote for your favorites below!

Annual Gaiscioch Community Celebration at PAX West

Join us at Fado's Irish Pub in Seattle, WA on Saturday, August 31st, between 6 pm and 9 pm to meet several of our local and distant Gaiscioch. Gaiscioch Elders Foghladha, Donaliam, Nona, Soren, and Screenager are all planning on attending. All attendees will go home with a little something from the family.

Learn more at:
https://www.gaiscioch.com/events/3711/

New Discord Bot

I recently discovered YAGPDB.xyz on another server and liked what it was doing for role management. Upon cracking it open I discovered it had a wealth of other features built into it as well. So I decided to invite the bot to our server and start working on setting it up. 

Choosing your roles just got a lot easier. Simply go to the #channel-access-settings and click on the reaction icons for the games your playing. The bot will assign you the related roles. No more guesswork, no more -rank commands. Simply click to add, click to remove.

Another neat feature this bot has is its event system which automatically sends reminders and sets the time to your time zone. It has an RSVP system that will ping you when the event is about to begin. I have tested it out for several events so far and it has worked well. I've even written a guide on how to do it on our forums. That said, it is NOT a replacement for our website's calendar and at this point, I do not have a way to connect the two. But it's good for some of our special events like meetups and conventions.

Some of the other things it can do that I haven't set up yet is a ticketing system for help desk stuff. It also has a polling engine, custom commands, a slew of statistics and moderation tools, the ability to read feeds from YouTube and Reddit and more.

Inside the Family

Gaiscioch Family Patreons:

Want to give a special shout-out to those members who are helping enable our community to do great things. Their financial support has allowed us to expand the tools at our disposal and maintain the community without burning a hole in my personal savings. While a still do pay a bit out of pocket their contributions have prevented me from having to work side gigs to keep us afloat and for that, I am eternally grateful. It's at a manageable level I am comfortable with. Without these Patreons, you'd be seeing a lot less of me. Thank you for keeping me in-game and focused on growing our community.

Avohaiel
WilliamBrandis
Radiologikal
Rhynor
verve
Kageshukuun
Blienmeis
Venorik
CerrisCharredOak
Borrys
Ghengiz
Isha
Varder
Z. C.Kay
S. DeRouen
Whoflung
Robdalf
Nikodemus
DRHamp
Birdee
Somercy2163
Weebitt
Thargond
Ruuta
Eiahn
Randeth
Donaliam
xrist04

Support The Community

Gaiscioch Family Promotions:

I wanted to take a moment to say congratulations to a few members this month for accepting their next credo and stepping into a new role in our family.

Official Members (Lorgaire)

Official Members have earned the rank of Lorgaire and have accepted the Mark of the Kindred credo. They have officially decided to become members of the family and start their journey to ascend the roles of the Gaiscioch Family.

  » Breg   » Deathjammer   » Stormkaster   » Sword

Please Welcome Our Newest Members

Gaiscioch By The Numbers

Population
Group Active %
Guild Wars 2 259 56%
Elder Scrolls Online 167 36%
Adventures 170 37%
Total 460
Magazine
Group Total
Subscribers 5,327
Readers 277,692
Views 1,380,817
Followers
Media Total
Twitch 990
YouTube 579
Twitter 900

Member Rewards

Vault Credits

Thanks For Reading!

[GIVEAWAY]
200 Family Vault Credits
Account Bound | Expires: August 13th, 2019

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The Hunt For
Chapter 6

95 Votes  |  Vote Now  |  Details
11 Votes  |  Vote Now  |  Details
5 Votes  |  Vote Now  |  Details
29 Votes  |  Vote Now  |  Details
11 Votes  |  Vote Now  |  Details
7 Votes  |  Vote Now  |  Details

Chapter Evaluation Goal: 40% Total Active Gaiscioch Population (184) or 200 Votes Pre-Launch.

Potential Chapter News

  1. Amazon Game Studios Announced as Co-Developer of New Middle-Earth Based MMO
    Gaiscioch Magazine
  2. The June community journal from Chronicles of Elyria talks a lot about its Discord server
    Massively Overpowered
  3. Astellia invites you to enter the Colosseum in its latest trailer and heads for its next closed beta
    Massively Overpowered
  4. Astellia - The Colosseum Features Intense PvE Battles
    MMORPG.com
  5. Astellia – A Familiar Romp with Cool Battle Pets
    MMOGames.com
  6. Astellia Online ? Falling Our Way
    MMORPG.com
  7. Astellia Is A Weird New MMO - TheHiveLeader
    MMORPG.com
  8. Ashes of Creation is bringing back battle royale, demos mayoral caravans
    Massively Overpowered
  9. Astellia Online’s second closed beta test slated to begin on July 30
    Massively Overpowered
  10. Chronicles of Elyria reveals its four world maps
    Massively Overpowered

Chapter 4:
Guild Wars 2

Living World Season 5 Getting Closer

ArenaNet aka NCSoft West announced that on August 30th at PAX West it will announce the next installment of the living story. 

Join ArenaNet at the Moore Theatre in Seattle, Washington, on Friday, August 30 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) and be a part of the excitement live. If you can’t attend in person, they’ll Livestream the announcement with a developer presentation and more on their official Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook channels.

If you're not caught up on the latest living story now is a great time. It will be really interesting to see where they take this season.

Legendary Runes & Sigils Make Introduced

ArenaNet announced Legendary Runes and Sigils this past month. Their announcement explains:

"Once socketed, a legendary upgrade has the power to take on the properties of any other upgrade of its type. You can freely socket and remove them from any type of armor without using an Upgrade Extractor. Unlike other legendary items, legendary upgrades have no visual effects.

Legendary runes provide the same set bonuses as other runes, and you can combine them with exotic superior runes. For example, if you have a Superior Rune of the Adventurer in your helm, and you add a legendary rune to your boots, setting the legendary rune’s suffix to Adventurer will grant the two-piece bonus for that set."

See the full details at:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/harness-the-power-of-legendary-upgrades/

Alas, the Beat Must Drop. ClubGaiscioch is Retiring Through the Fall.

Over the past couple of months due to my Daughter being in town and me missing a few weeks, the population has declined to non-existent. Out of the past 8 weeks, we've only managed to run successfully twice. The last time I ran it we didn't even have enough to post for participation until later in the event. This is largely due to the chaotic schedule I've had and the lack of consistency in the event.

I am going to retire ClubGaiscioch for now and reassess it after the conference season when things start to become regular again for everyone. I just don't feel it performs well in the Summer-Fall seasons. Come Winter / Spring it will be back no doubt. In any case, thank you all for coming out and supporting the late-night activities.

Guild Wars 2 Events at a Glance

All Times Pacific

Tuesdays

Wednesdays

Fridays

Saturdays

Sundays

Top Guild Wars 2 News For July, 2019

  1. Guild Wars 2 brings back the World Boss Rush and a Halloween in July sale
    Massively Overpowered
  2. New Cloth Gear for Guild Wars 2 But Not How You Imagine
    GameSpace
  3. Guild Wars 2 Fishing for Ideas
    MMORPG.com
  4. Guild Wars 2 offers players the chance to vote on the next competitive weapon set
    Massively Overpowered
  5. Guild Wars 2 Players Invited to Select the Next PvP & WvW Weapon Set
    MMORPG.com
  6. Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2’s Living World is a barrier to entry
    Massively Overpowered
  7. Guild Wars 2 World Boss Rush Event Begins Today
    MMORPG.com
  8. The Stream Team: Celebrating with fireworks in Guild Wars 2’s Dragon Bash
    Massively Overpowered
  9. Guild Wars 2 is plotting a big living world announcement during PAX on August 30
    Massively Overpowered
  10. Guild Wars 2 announces legendary upgrades and a community event to unlock ’em
    Massively Overpowered

Legacy Chapter 5:
Elder Scrolls Online

Gaiscioch Gets Listed on ESO's Guild Finder and Sees a Surge of New Players

Since we posted our listing on the Guild Finder we've seen a pretty decent surge of new members. This is the perfect time to plan some new activities.  Throughout August I'll be feeling out some event ideas to see what people are interested in. 

ESO was recently ranked as the #2 most populated MMO on the market right now with over 4.2 million players and I'm certain there is interest in grouping up for some activities. It's just a matter of figuring out what you're interested in doing together. Come to the summit to discuss your ideas :).

DLC Scalebreaker Launches on August 12th

As the new DLC Launches, you can expect my weekly Monday 6 PM PT event to cover as much as we can of this new area.  Here's what ZeniMax has announced:

The Season of the Dragon continues with Scalebreaker, bringing two challenging new dungeons for you and your team: Moongrave Fane and Lair of Maarselok. Battle a powerful vampire and put an end to the corrupting influence of an all-new Dragon. The fight has only just begun!

  • Enter Moongrave Fane and confront a powerful vampire
  • Defend Tamriel from the rising corruption of a new Dragon in Lair of Maarselok
  • Discover new item sets, earn exclusive collectibles, and unlock challenging new Achievements
  • Continue your Season of the Dragon adventure with two new stories that take you beyond The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr

Be sure to join us in-game to take on more dragon and engage in some epic vampire hunting activities. Learn more at https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/updates/dlc/scalebreaker

Elder Scrolls Online Events at a Glance

All Times Pacific

Mondays

Fridays

Sundays

Top Elder Scrolls Online News For July, 2019

  1. Elder Scrolls Online details Scalebreaker’s dungeons, multibidding, and battleground updates
    Massively Overpowered
  2. OPINION: The Elder Scrolls Online — Revisited
    GameSpace
  3. Elder Scrolls Online Scalebreaker DLC & Update 23 Previewed
    MMORPG.com
  4. Elder Scrolls Online Adventures: Revival, Intros, and Moving Forward
    MMORPG.com
  5. Elder Scrolls Online Holds Its Largest Play Get-Together in Cologne
    MMORPG.com
  6. The Stream Team: Joining Elder Scrolls Online’s Dark Brotherhood
    Massively Overpowered
  7. Elder Scrolls Online Adventures: Side Questing and World Bossing
    MMORPG.com
  8. Tamriel Infinium: What comes after champion points in The Elder Scrolls Online?
    Massively Overpowered
  9. The Elder Scrolls Online’s Scalebreaker launches August 12 – check out the QuakeCon 2019 roadmap
    Massively Overpowered
  10. Elder Scrolls Online “Scalebreaker” to launch August 12th
    GameSpace

Recreational:
Gaiscioch Adventures

Astellia Has Serious Potential. Most Overlooked MMORPG of 2019

Yes, it's Eastern, yet there is NO forced PvP. After playing the first beta extensively and taking the booster to Max level. This game seriously reminds me of RIFT. It plays and feels very similar. The coolest aspect is that you can set up your skills to fire in any order by pressing the same key. Much like how you would set up macros in RIFT, Astellia allows you to sequence your skills to make button-mashing easier. 

For those that enjoy PVP, there is a giant warzone which is a 3 faction PvP arena that supports up to 1000 players per map. After wandering around the map in the last test there was a lot of vertical space with multiple heights layered upon the map. There are NPC defended nodes to capture to earn points for your realm. The PvP areas are pretty massive and I was only able to wander around about a third of the map in the time I had available.

While many have overlooked this game rolling it into the "Oh it's another eastern game" category, I feel the need to proclaim that it may be easier, but a lot of those reasons you hate eastern games are not present. There is no griefing in this game which is a huge upside and the gameplay feels very familiar. If we had the following for this one it would meet our chapter compatibility matrix with flying colors. The only thing holding it back is people lumping it into the same box with Bless, Aion, Archeage, and Black Desert.

Gaiscioch Finds A Home In Lord of the Rings Online

There's no place like home, and now we have one! After months of waiting, we finally unlocked the ability to purchase a kin house. We found a neighborhood that was almost completely empty in Spearwall, Bree Homestead. As soon as we planted our flag the neighborhood filled up with members flocking to the village. There are all the amenities you need at or near our kin house. Task boards, merchants, crafting supplies, tools and most importantly shared vaults.

Here's a handy guide to our neighborhood:

  • Kin House: 5 Long Street - Crafting Vault, Crafting Station, Personal Vault, Makeover NPC, Crafting Supply Caches. Vault available to all registered & claimed characters.
  • Foghlador's House: 6 Long Street - Weapons & Armor Vault (Purple+ Only Please) open to all Gaiscioch members to decorate and use the vault.

Join us in Middle-Earth by going to https://gsch.info/sa/lotro

Experience Epic Battles in Conqueror's Blade

The house grows stronger. Now in month 2 since the open beta began we have one member over level 100 and a handful on the cusp. We continue to rotate our roster on a 2-week AFK rotation and are constantly receiving more applicants. If you return to the game and plan to play regularly be sure to resubmit a request to join in the game. 

If you can't commit to a regular playtime search the guild list for Gaiscioch. That guild is in our alliance and you are welcome to join and still participate in the community. We won't be rotating that roster until it fills up.  It is also a great place to put your secondary character.

There are a lot of PvE sieges to participate in if you don't enjoy the PvP side of the game. Both sides can progress and be a viable player in the game. If you never set foot in PvP you could still see all this game has to offer. Feel free to check it out as it is one of the best Free-2-Play games available.

That said we are actively looking to build a team of 15-20 PvPers to help our house and our allied houses secure territory. Territory Wars occur every Tuesday and Saturday from 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM. If you are able to play at that time and love PvP be sure to join us!

Join the Adventure by going to https://gsch.info/sa/cb 

Ashes of Creation Resurfaces with More Apocalypse Testing

The first piece of the actual MMO makes its way to testing this month. The Mayoral Caravan escort missions will be appearing on the apocalypse testing platform soon. These will be mostly PvE (not sure if PvP is included at all) and require you and your friends to move a caravan from one city to another. All the while surviving waves of being attacked by all means of creatures. This is the framework for one of the cornerstone systems of expanding your node's wealth and fortune. In addition, we should see siege testing this fall if they stick to their timeline. Once this makes its way into testing expect to see an event on the calendar.

Join the adventure at https://gsch.info/sa/aoc 

Prepare for Rune 2 Betas!

Sharpen those axes! Last month Rune 2 ran a quick beta for their deathmatch mode. Over the next month, we should get a peek at the new 4-player coop campaign. Since it shifted directions from a PVP survival game to a cooperative adventure with various additional PvP modes (more in line with the classic Rune) fans have been pretty divided. Personally, I welcome the change and look forward to adventuring with a few of you who decide to play.

Join the adventure at http://gsch.info/sa/rune

Indie MMORPG Legion
The Eternal War Recruits Gaiscioch for Some Guidance

A new MMORPG was recently revealed by a studio of our friends from the north in Canada. They've recruited a few of us to help them guide the development of their game and provide testing support as it moves forward. If you've ever wanted to see a game while it's being developed this is a good chance. You will be talking directly with devs in this and you will never have a better chance to have developers hear your suggestions as you will in one of these Pre-Alpha tests. If you're interested in participating in this testing team please let me know and I can get you set up. But I need people who are in it to help make better games, not people looking to try before they buy. This game is very early in its development phase and is mostly testing various game systems at this point, at set dates and times. It's nowhere near its final form.

Around the Industry

Gaiscioch Adventure Events at a Glance

All Times Pacific

Mondays

Tuesdays

Wednesdays

Thursdays

Fridays

Saturdays

New Adventures

Popular Adventures

Coming Soon

View Full Social Adventure Directory

Gaiscioch Magazine News

Help Wanted

You may have noticed a bit of a slowdown on how often articles come out. Over the past few years, various life changes have pulled members away from the team and we haven't really had any new volunteers join the team. We are looking for people who would like to write articles. Even if you don't think your good at spelling or grammar we have a team of editors ready and waiting to make you sound like a rockstar. 

There are a lot of benefits to being a writer on our team. Here are a few big points:

  1. Earn Lore Points - Every article you write is calculated into Lore points which help your overall progression in the community.
  2. Get Free Games - We receive a healthy amount of review requests and can get you steam keys for games in exchange for you being willing to write about them.
  3. Get into Conferences Free - After you build up a portfolio of articles I can show you how to apply for a press pass at your favorite gaming convention. This grants you all access and sometimes special access to go behind the scenes with developers.

We're really hurting for writers right now and if I can't find some new ones soon we won't have much of a magazine to publish. You can help us keep it alive and moving forward.

join the magazine team at https://www.gaiscioch.com/gschmag/

Next Magazine Team Meeting:
Sat. Sep. 7th at 2:00PM

Latest Features:

Be sure to check out our latest stories and gaming news at: https://www.gaisciochmagazine.com/

Gaiscioch Livestream News

Livestream Lineup

The Siege War
PlayStation Adventures
Gaiscioch Adventures
Gaiscioch Presents
Great Tyrian Adventure
Gaiscioch #ExtraLife
Chronicles of Tamriel
Streams of Epic Adventure

Schedule

The Siege War

Wednesdays at 6:00PM PDT
Saturdays at 11:00AM PDT

PlayStation Adventures

Tuesdays at 3:00PM PDT
Thursdays at 3:00PM PDT
Fridays at 3:00PM PDT
Mondays at 3:00PM PDT
Wednesdays at 3:00PM PDT

Gaiscioch Adventures

Fridays at 6:00PM PDT
Mondays at 6:00PM PDT

Slan Go Foill!
(Goodbye for Now)

Benjamin "Foghladha" Foley
Founder & Activities Director
Gaiscioch Social Gaming Community
E: foghladha@gaiscioch.com

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